7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Nothing revolutionary, still original and useful, October 13, 2005
Summary:
Thinking Inside the Box is a compilation of the old, very-very basic principles of running a business. Cheyfitz does not claim to share any revolutionary ideas with the reader; on the contrary, he asserts that the fundamental philosophy of business has not changed for centuries, only the methods and tools evolve. This conservative attitude is coupled with entertaining style. He draws examples both from his personal experience and from conscientiously researched literature.
For beginners in business the book is a must. Veteran businesspeople should know most of Cheyfitz's rules from experience; still the book will probably provide some valuable insights for them, too.
Detailed review:
It is difficult to find a business book that is systematic, practical and entertaining at the same time. Books written by outsiders (such as university professors) are often strong on research and well-structured, but they tend to be too theoretical or even naïve for the practitioners. On the other hand, books written by businesspeople are sometimes just collections of anecdotes, they are often simplistic and specific to the author's circle of experience. Usually the best case is when businesspeople partner with professors (as in the case of the Balanced Scorecard) or when researchers go out to the "field" and actually observe how business success is achieved in real life (as in the case of First Break All the Rules). The worst case is of course, when conceited consultants with little practical experience or theoretical knowledge write a book after doing some sloppy "research" (a good example of that is businessThink - make sure to get your copy if you want to learn how to write something extremely arrogant and condescending).
Thinking Inside the Box is a rare example of a businessman writing a book without too much bragging, with his own stories being short and relevant, and his research on other companies unusually thorough and well-referenced. All he promises is to summarize the basic rules of starting and operating a business, and he does exactly that, in a definitely entertaining style. The visualization he uses (the 12 rules are the planks of "the box") is a rather unnecessary addition, but - as a previous reviewer observed - it catches the eye of the would-be-buyers better.
A peculiarity of this work is its conservative point of view. These days most business books urge you to continuously innovate, turn your business upside down and "think outside the box". Cheyfitz warns us that while modernization or transformation of your tools and methods is often necessary, it is always risky, so you should not temper too much with the basics of your business if it is going well. The last time I read anybody warning me that I should be cautious with innovations was Gerald Weinberg in Secrets of Consulting - and that was rather long ago. ("Nothing new ever works"- says Weinberg, which is of course a little exaggerated statement, but in my experience still not very far from the truth.) Paradoxically, being conventional is a highly unconventional (shall I say heretic?) attitude in today's business literature, probably this is why Thinking Inside the Box never made it to the bestseller list.
Cheyfitz claims that there are some basic principles of business that have been unchanged for centuries, and will probably remain true for a long time in the future, so if you disregard them, you may soon be out of business. The book lists 12 "timeless rules" or "planks". Some of these rules are so simple that you would feel that the author wants to insult your intelligence had he not listed copious examples of businesses ignoring them. A couple of the rules in the second half of the book are not so trivial, and as such, probably more debatable than the rest, but still they come from a person who has applied them in practice, so they deserve at least careful consideration. Thus the book is much more than a farewell speech to the "New Economy" invented in the .com period.
The "planks" include the following (rephrased by me, for I do not have the book on me when writing this review):
- Profitability is everything.
You may start your business with a loss initially, but you must have a clear plan to achieve profitability. Sounds like a trivial chapter not worth reading? Cheyfitz quotes many well-known examples of not following this rule. We are living interesting times... (Our beloved Amazon.com is one of the examples. While I am a customer and fan of Amazon, I would not have slept peacefully at night if my money had been invested in this company. Yes, I know they have achieved profitability, but all too many .coms with similar strategies failed.)
- Give customers what they want, not what you want to give them.
Another "trivial" rule. While we know how powerful advertising can be, and it is often more useful to have good political relationships than good customer relationships, many companies could dramatically improve their bottom line by adopting such a philosophy. But in this neck of the woods not many companies seem to have discovered it yet (including the local branches of US multinationals).
Just one recent example (I am sure you could add hundreds of others from your own experience): I bought a carpet on the Internet from Germany. I asked the seller to send it by a reputable company instead of the Postal Service. He answered it was impossible to find one. I thought he must be crazy, so I contacted GLS, UPS and some other companies who are supposed to be in the business of transporting goods from one place to another. It turned out that the seller was not crazy: all these firms with thousands of trucks running in Europe told me it was impossible for them to transport a f...ing rug over a distance of a few hundred miles if it is rolled (length: 3 m - 10 feet, weight 50 kg - 110 lbs). They did not even offer any alternatives (like: we can do it at an extra cost, we contacted another company that can do it for you...), they basically told me to go to hell. Eventually we had to transport the rug folded (which of course did not do it good). Will I be a loyal customer of any of these guys? You bet I won't, regardless of their reputation or marketing efforts.
- Know what your main asset is (and protect it).
The main asset may take different forms, but it is rarely something physical. The examples given by Cheyfitz help you understand the concept and find your own main asset. This is also sound advice, often followed but sometimes neglected even by otherwise good firms.
- Do not build what you can buy.
Your business can grow faster if you both grow it internally and at the same time you buy up good companies that have the expertise, customers, etc. You may buy companies even if they are in the red, assuming that you have a plan to turn them around. This is probably the most debatable of the 12 rules, since there are numerous examples of seemingly meaningful mergers with catastrophic results, so following this rule may lead you to unpredictable situations - while Cheyfitz cautions against such moves in the other chapters. True, Cheyfitz emphasizes that you should do your homework and look very carefully at what you buy, still I feel that by giving your customers what they want or by protecting your main asset, you take much less unnecessary risk than by buying up troubled firms to grow your "empire". Even so, this is a point that every business that wants to grow should seriously consider.
(For a complete list of the rules, read the book : )
I would make Thinking Inside the Box a mandatory reading at the beginning of MBA studies. It will be very helpful if you start a company with little experience, and probably even experienced busiensspeople will not regret reading it and consider whether they fully follow these classic rules. Thinking Inside the Box is a book that will not become outdated anytime soon.
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great business book. Back to the fundamentals., December 16, 2003
This review is from: Thinking Inside the Box: The 12 Timeless Rules for Managing a Successful Business (Hardcover)
I admit I bought this book because of the title. I am so annoyed with repeaters constantly spouting off about "thinking outside the box" and other "clever" little catch phrases they pick up in magazine articles, books, and management seminars, that I just had to get this book once I saw the title. Despite the humorous title, this book is actually a solid business book. The only humor here is in the utter stupidity and arrogance of management in some of the case studies. The book starts out by making the case that there is rarely anything "new" in business (something I've believed for a long time). It then goes on to essentially discuss the basics of business. The subtitle, The 12 Timeless Rules for Managing a Successful Business probably more effectively describes the content (but I doubt I would have bought it with that title).
What I really liked about the book is the way it quickly covered the topics with a rapid-fire series of organized case studies. The diversity of case studies ranging from Enron, Microsoft, AOL and Webvan, to McDonnel Douglas, Fed Ex, American Express, and GE made for some very interesting and thought provoking reading. Granted, the "12 timeless rules" are things you probably already knew, but that's not the point. Just because you know something doesn't mean you are using that knowledge in your decision-making. This book makes you think, and I believe that is its greatest value. Anyone about to make important business decisions should read this book first
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